Cartridge-feeding device



(No Model.) a Sheets-Shet 1. L. F. BRUCE. CARTRIDGE FEEDING DBVIGE."

Pgtented P 11, 1890.

(No Model.) a' Sheets-Sheet 2.

L. F. BRUCE.

CARTRIDGE FEEDING DBV'IOE.

No. 421,348. Patented Feb. -11, 1890.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

L. F.- BRUCE. CARTRIDGE FEEDING DEVICE PatentedFeb. 11

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LUCIEN F. BRUCE, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN OR TO THE GATLINGGUN COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

CARTRIDGE-FEEDING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 421,348, dated February11, 1890.

Application filed June 25, 1889. Serial No. 315,490. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUOIEN F. BRUCE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Springfield, inthe county of IIampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inCartridge-Feeding Devices for Machine-Guns, of which the following is aspecification.

V This invention relates to cartridge-feeding devices for machine-guns,and pertains to improvements in mechanism for controlling the movementof cartridges between the feeder into which the cartridges are firstplaced and the revolving carrier of the gun 5 and the invention consistsin the peculiar construction and arrangement of said mechanism, wherebyit is broughtinto co-operative relation with and under the control ofsaid carrier, and in improved means for attaching said mechanism to thegun, all as hereinafter fully described, and set forth in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is an endelevation of a portion of the revolving cartridge-carrier of thewell-known Gatling gun, showing a portion of the casing inclosing saidcarrier in section, and having applied thereto cartridge-controllingmechanism constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 illustratesdetail parts of said cartridge-controlling mechanism and a portion ofthe case inclosing the same, and a portion of the carrier of the gun,and is hereinafter fully described. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of aportion of the rotating cartridge-carrier of the gun, together with aportion of the aforesaid cartridge-controlling mechanism, showing acartridge in a certain position between a part of said mechanism and thecarrier, all as hereinafter described, said figure having the base ofthe hopper indicated thereon in dotted lines. Fig. 4 is a perspectiveview of the cover portion of the said case in which is located saidcartridgecontrolling mechanism, and of a cartridgefeeder of well-knownconstruction attached to said case in operative position.

Cartridge-feeding devices for machine guns heretofore constructed with acartridge guiding or controlling wheel similar to the wheel 5 of thisapplication have said wheel applied thereto in a diiferent operativerelation to the cartridge-carrier of the gun from that herein shown anddescribed.

The essential object of this invention is to provide such constructionand arrangement of the cartridge-carrier of the gun and of a cartridgeguiding and controlling Wheel cooperating with and having its rotationcontrolled by said carrier as insures the most reliable and accuratemovement of the cartridges with great rapidity into the gun, and whichobviates the danger of clogging and stopping the feed of the cartridgesduring rapid firing.

In the drawings, B indicates the cartridgecarrier of the well-knownGatling gun, said carrier in practice, being adapted to be rotated withthe barrels and holding cartridges in longitudinal semi-cylindrical.grooves in positions in a line with the bore of said barrels.

K'indicates the portion of the hopper of the gun directly over saidcartridge-carrier, and 6 the feeding-wheel case, which is located in thehopper-cover D. The mouth 12 of the hopper is adapted to receive thefoot of the cartridge-feeder 10, the latter being secured to thehopper-mouth by a thumb-screw 13.

The hopper cover D is secured to the hopper by means of a fixed hook 7on one end thereof, which engages with the adjoining edge or border ofthe hopper, as shown in Fig. 1, and the hook S, which is pivoted on theopposite end of the cover, capable of engaging by one end with theborder of the hopper, as shown, and having a thumb-screw 9 passingthrough its opposite end and against the end of the cover D, wherebysaid hook is swung into engagement with the hopper to secure the coverthereto, or is disengaged therefrom to permit said cover to be removed.

The said cartridge carrier B is made with the usual longitudinal ribs Z)c n thereon, which ribs are substantially identical in form, but aredifferently designated, as above, for the purpose of more clearlyexplaining the operation of the within-described improve-.

ments. The above referred-to semi-cylindrical grooves in the carrier arethose shown between said ribs, and are indicated by f. To adapt the saidcartridge-carrier B to the improvements herein described, it has aseries of annular grooves 12 formed in the said ribs thereon, therebeing as many of said grooves as there are sections to of thefeeding-wheel 5, and the width of said grooves is such as permits saidsections to enter them more or less when said wheel is rotated, as shownin Fig. 1.

The base or bottom 3 of the hopper K has a longitudinal slot h therein,which constitutes the throat of the hopper, and through which thecartridges pass into the grooves f between the said ribs on thecartridge-carrier. Said base 8 is also formed, as indicated by dottedlines in Fig. 3, to permit the said ribs to project through it as thecartridge-carrier B rotates. Fig. 1 also shows the projection of saidribs through the base of the hopper.

The feeding-wheel case 6 is formed in or attached to the hopper-cover Dand contains a cylindrical wheel-chamber, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, inwhich the feeding-wheel 5 is hung to rotate on a suitable shaft 14. Apassage 15, through which cartridges pass from the feeder 10 to the saidwheel and its chamber, is formed in the upper partof the cover D. Thedischarge-opening for cartridges at the lower side of said wheel-chamberis much wider than said passage 15 at its upper side, in order to permitthe extremities of said ribs to enter said chamber more or less, inorder to properly cooperate with the feeding-wheel 5, as belowdescribed, in governing the movement of and manipulating the cartridges,so that they are made to take their proper places successively in thegrooves of the carrier B. The said feeding-wheel 5 is constructed withsections w, having circular notches in their peripheries, as shown. Saidnotches are formed in a line in the several sections and at fourdifferent points in said peripheries,

and they constitute, so to speak, four cartridge-grooves in said wheel,parallel with the axis thereof, to receive the cartridges, as shown inFigs. 1, 2, and 3, while they move through the wheel-chamber. Teeth 0are formed on each wheel-section to, which are adapted to enter the saidannular grooves in the ribs of the cartridge-carrier, as and for thepurpose below described.

The cartridge-feeder 10, (shown in Fig. 4,) in connection with thehopper-cover D, is a well-known device, and is employed in connectionwith said cover, hopper, and the cartridge-controlling mechanism, toreceive oartridges from a box into its vertical grooves g g and holdthem by their heads while they move downward by gravity through themouth 12 into said wheel-chamber. Any other suitable feeder than thatshown in Fig. 4: may be employed to convey cartridges into the hopper ifit be capable of properly directing the cartridges.

The operation of the abovedescribed improvements in causing cartridgesto be deposited one after another in regular order in thecartridge-receiving grooves of the rotating cartridgecarrier is asfollows: The first of a line of cartridges a moving down from the feederlands on the wheel 5 and causes it by its weight to turn in thedirection of the arrow at the end of said wheel, Fig. 3, and thecartridge and said wheel will come to a stop in the position shown inFig. 3, said cartridge a being engaged by the wheel 5 and lying againstthe OlltQl-"Sld6 of the rib b, it being understood that other cartridgeswill lie against the wheel above said first one in the positions shownby dotted lines in Fig. 1. On starting the carrier the cartridge a andthe wheel 5 remain momentarily quiet, while the rib b of the carriermoves under said cartridge, and said rib having passed from under thecartridge a the latter drops onto the base .9 of the hopper in suchposition that the approaching rib c engages with said cartridge (seeFig. 2) and by the movement of the rib c againstit it is carried alongto the mouth of the hopper-throat 72 into which it is carried by saidrib 0 until it arrives at the position shown by cartridge at in Fig.1that is to say, at the mouth of said throat-when it passes at once downthe latter into one of the cartridgechambers f between the ribs of thecarrier. As soon as the rib 1) passes from under the said cartridge 0.the latter rolls off the edge of said rib and its ends strike said base8 of the hopper, as aforesaid, and on which it is carried along towardthe throat h, and while said cartridge is somoving the teeth 0 of thewheel enter the annular grooves oof the cartridge-carrier, as indicatedin Fig. 1, where one of said teeth is shown partly emerged from one ofsaid grooves, behind which tooth. follows the cartridge 6. WVhile thesaid teeth 0 are entered into the grooves o, a cartridge, as (2, followsdirectly behind said teeth, (see Fig. 1,) and, owing to the fact thatthe space between said base 3 and the extremity of the teeth 0 is ofless width than the diameter of the cartridge, the latter, in order topass along after dropping on the base 5, must engage to a certain degreewith the wheel 5, (see Fig. 2, cartridge 3,) and thus each cartridgeconstitutes, so to speak, a connection between one of the ribs of thecartridge-carrier and the wheel, whereby the latter and said carrier arecaused to move in consonance, and hence no blocking of the feed can takeplace, for the wheel and carrier move in unison, carrying the cartridgesone after another between them.

Heretofore in cartridge-feeding devices in which a wheel similar towheel 5 is employed said wheel has not been controlled by engagementwith the carrier through the inter mediary of a cartridge, as abovedescribed, and hence such devices failed to produce the necessaryuniform movement of wheel and cartridge-carrier. The said wheel andcartridge-carrier as heretofore made and arranged are capable of rotarymovements when conveying cartridges, but under such conditions act moreor less independently of each other, and as a consequence the cartridgesfrom time to time become blocked be tween the carrier and the adjoiningWalls of the hopper; but said inconveniences are entirely obviated bythe use of the Within-described improvements, for the feeding-wheel andcartridge-carrier are in engagement by means of each of the interposedcartridges as they move along, and each cartridge can only reach itsproper groove in the carrier by the uniform triple movement of thewheel, the carrier, and the cartridge itself.

lVhat I claim as my invention is= 1. The cartridge-carrier of amachine-gun capable of a rotary movement under the hopper thereof,having a series of longitudinal ribs and cartridge-receiving grooves, asdescribed, and a series of annular grooves transversely through saidribs, combined with a feeding-wheel having a free rotary motion at theside of said carrier, consisting of united sections 10, having teeththereon Whose extremities enter said annular grooves, and circularnotches therein to receive cartridges, and a wheel-chamber, asdescribed, Within which said feeding wheel rotates, substantially as setforth.

2. The cartridge-carrier having longitudinal ribs thereon and a seriesof annular grooves transversely through said ribs, as described,combined with a freely-rotating feeding-Wheel capable of engaging with acartridge lying on one of said ribs and of entering said annulargrooves, substantially as set forth.

3. The cartridge-carrier having longitudinal ribs thereon and a seriesof annular grooves transversely through said ribs, as described,combined With the hopper K, having perforations through its base topermit the separated portions of said ribs to extend therethrough, and afreelyrotating feeding- Wheel capable of engaging with a cartridge lyingon one of said ribs and on said hopperbase therebetween during themovement of the cartridge toward the throat of the hopper, substantiallyas set forth.

4. The hopper-cover D, having the rigid hook 7 on one end, the hook 8,pivotally attached to its opposite end, and the screw 9, passing throughone end of said pivoted hook, combined with the hopper K, having aborder with which said hooks engage, substantially as set forth.

LUOIEN F. BRUCE.

Witnesses:

ILA. CHAPIN, G. M. CHAMBERLAIN,

